Arms & Armour [3] -
Axes

A comprehensive collection of axe heads on a broken axe shaft

A Huscarl gently cooking in the summer heat

Small hand axes tended to just be wood-axes which were used for combat. The
construction of all axes followed the same general principal. A flat strip of
'soft' iron is folded in half around a mandrel to create the socket. A slice
of much harder iron that has the properties of knife steel, is then fire welded
in between the two iron halves at the cutting edge end. This limits the amount
of expensive steel that is needed for the business end, keeping the rest of
the axe relatively cheap. The hafts of the smaller axes were between 60 - 90cm
(2' - 3') long with a blade about 7.5 - 150cm (3" - 6") wide. One special
type of hand axe, particularly popular in the early Viking period, was the 'skegox',
or bearded axe, so called because of its elongated lower edge.

A Huscarl as interpreted on the Bayeux Tapestry, without even a shield upon his back

The axe as a weapon is good in attack, but fairly poor as a tool to defend
yourself with. It is a weapon that quickly induces fear, as it takes little
imagination to guess what it could do. The user needs to be very confident of
the outcome of a clash, as he will be fighting with a weapon that is quite heavy,
resulting in easily over-committed blows. This could quite easily be his undoing
against a warrior using a lighter weapon such as a spear, who is aware of the
axe's shortcomings. A skilled fighter can with even a spear disarm a man wielding
an axe by catching the axe where is joins the shaft and sweeping it out of the
hand of the wielder.

In early Anglo-Saxon times some warriors used a special type of axe known as
a 'francisca'. This axe was quite small, with a thick triangular section at
the socket, resulting in a very heavy blade for it's small size. The francisca
was designed for throwing, and had been particularly popular amongst the Franks.
The Francisca is supposed to have been thrown in a massed volley to create certain
amounts of mayhem prior to the onrush of the host of warriors. How well this
worked is anyones guess today. Just the act of throwing the axe was probably
enough to break the concentration of the opposing force for just the right amount
of time before the warriors rushed in.

The Broadaxe, or Dane-axe, was a two handed axe introduced by the Vikings in
the late tenth century but which soon became popular with Saxons as well, and
was probably developed from the axes used to slaughter animals. The blades from
existing examples in museums demonstrate that they have very thin section blades,
designed to hack flesh apart. If they were as bulky as the smaller axe, it would
prove to be too heavy for any sensible use. Usually used only by the wealthier
semi-professional warriors it has a broad blade with a cutting edge of about
22 - 45cm (9" - 18") and a long wooden ash haft some 1.2 - 1.5m (4' - 5' long).

The Bayeux tapestry and accounts from the battle of Hastings show these Dane-axes
wielded by the Huscarls cleaving 'both man and horse in two' at the same time.
The Dane-axe's only drawback was that you need to have both hands on the shaft
of the axe, with your shield slung across your back, leaving your front wide
open to attack. The introduction of the Dane-axe is credited to King Cnut, who
is also credited with the whole concept of the Karl or Huscarl you can see on
the left. With such a fearsome tool to hand, few people would question this
mans reasons. The action of swinging the axe prevents the Huscarl from standing
close to any of his fellow huscarls, and this may well lead to trouble for him
from any thrown javelin, however, the sheer ferocity of this warrior would daunt
most foes, prompting them to make mistakes.